EDITORIAL: Get the region onboard new public transit plan

Feb. 3, 2014

Traffic on Northbound I-75/71 in 2011. / The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong

the series

The Enquirer will be looking at what Cincinnati needs to do to upgrade its public transportation. Future stories include the business case for better mass transit, how to fund it and what the next steps should be. What changes do you want to see? What would convince you to use mass transit? Send ideas via email to jzimmerman@enquirer.com or tweet them using the #cincytransit hashtag.

With the debate over the Cincinnati streetcar resolved, it’s time to improve public transportation for the entire region.

Our underfunded, bus-only system largely serves those who have no other options for getting around. Expanding the options to include more riders would have profound benefits for individuals, businesses and the long-term growth prospects of the region as a whole:

• Households that go from two cars to one could save an average of more than $9,000 a year per family. That money – which now leaves the region to pay for insurance, gas and car payments – would be spent more locally on housing, food and recreation.

• Employers who compete for talent with companies across the country would find it easier to attract millennials, who drive less than their parents, and professionals who have lived in cities with good public transportation.

• Low-income workers and those who don’t own a car would find it easier to find and keep jobs, which would help them climb out of poverty. Only 28 percent of the region’s jobs are now reachable by public transportation in 90 minutes or less, which hurts employers and employees.

A bicyclist makes his up at Vine Street in the Gateway Quarter. | The Enquirer/Liz Dufour

• Economic development follows fixed transit like rails and bus rapid transit as developers, businesses and residents take advantage of proximity to transit. It’s a formula that’s succeeded in city after city and works especially well in neighborhoods like Cincinnati’s that are built for density and need repopulation.

• Most of the regions we compete with for jobs and people have already embarked on plans to increase mass transit beyond bus travel. Agenda 360 and Vision 2015 have identified 11 regions as our closest competitors. Of those 11, just four others have bus-only systems, and the Cincinnati region receives the lowest level of state and local funding per passenger mile of all the systems.

• The region’s aging population, which is projected to explode in the next two decades, and disabled residents could continue to get around even when they can no longer drive.

• Moving more trips to public transportation would decrease traffic for those who continue to drive and would slow the rate of highway construction and expansion.

• In a region that suffers from poorer air quality, shorter life expectancy and higher rates of obesity than the country as a whole, improving public transportation could improve public health by reducing pollution and increasing physical activity.

During the fierce debate over the streetcar, many critics said the streetcar was too small and too limited, and that the region needed a comprehensive light-rail system instead. Yet when voters had a chance in 2002 to vote on an ambitious light-rail plan called Metro Moves, they rejected it by a 2-1 margin. That crashing failure cowed many transit advocates for at least a decade and convinced others that starting small with a streetcar line was the best way to launch rail transit in the region. | Now with the streetcar on its way, advocates are beginning to restart the regional conversation on improving public transportation. The city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are hosting a transportation summit later this month, hoping to learn from federal officials what can be done to jump-start transit improvements. And the state of Ohio – which has cut general-revenue funding to public transportation by 83 percent since 2000 – is conducting a transit study at the request of the Ohio General Assembly to better understand the needs of transportation systems and their riders.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which operates the Metro bus system in Cincinnati and surrounding communities, is making changes that include transit centers, real-time arrival information, more crosstown routes and a limited-stop service called MetroPlus. Metro is beginning to see ridership increases after 2008 budget reductions caused fare hikes and cuts to service.

The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber has identified the creation of a regional transit plan as one of its 2014 legislative priorities, and Agenda 360, the chamber’s regional action plan, will introduce a transit academy and transit alliance this year. Modeled on similar programs in Nashville, Tenn., the alliance and academy will educate business leaders, elected officials and others on the benefits of expanded transportation options to the region.

And while there are no specific proposals under discussion beyond Metro’s changes, there’s a sentiment among regional leaders that it’s time to at least consider the issue. In mid-January, for instance, Blue Ash officials asked Metro CEO Terry Garcia Crews to brief them on the state of public transportation locally.

“In the past, Blue Ash, like many suburbs, has been very auto-oriented,” said City Manager David Waltz. “Clearly there’s been an evolution and we’re starting to think about that. Whether it’s walking, auto, rail, bus, I don’t know. It may be more effective to work with the bus system rather than add another lane to Reed Hartman Highway, which is what we’ve done in the past. I think it’s our responsibility to be thinking about these things.”

It’s the sort of conversation that every municipality in the region should be having, which is why the chamber’s transit alliance and academy are a welcome development.

Those conversations need to address at least these three basic questions:

Whom is the public

transportation system for?

Traditionally mass transit in the region has been viewed as the option of last resort, for people who can’t afford a car. But so-called choice riders are on the rise, led by millennials who don’t share their parents’ love of the automobile. (One study found the average person age 16-34 drove 23 percent less in 2009 than in 2001.) Mass transit needs to serve the transit-dependent and choice riders equally well.

What form should public

transportation take?

Buses have many advantages and several disadvantages. They are inexpensive and don’t require additional infrastructure. But they share the road with autos, which slows them down; they don’t encourage development; they don’t accommodate disabled or elderly drivers particularly well; boarding them is a slow process that makes travel times longer; and there is a stigma attached to them. Encouraging people to use public transportation requires offering them a choice of rail or bus rapid transit, which provides a dedicated lane and limited stops to speed service, in addition to the current bus system.

What are your answers to these questions?

Who’s going to pay for it?

This is the hardest question of all. Funding for public transportation has plummeted in Ohio in recent years. In 2000, the state earmarked $42 million in the general revenue fund for public transportation; that level now stands at $7.3 million. The budget for roads and highways is $2.8 billion. Restoring at least some of that funding for public transportation should be a priority for state lawmakers. Transportation funding increased in the recent federal budget, and a few regions have persuaded private developers to invest in transit, based on the premise that their developments are worth more when transit stations are nearby. Any ambitious transportation upgrades will likely need local funding, which is still a difficult case to make. Sixty of the 77 transportation ballot initiatives across the U.S. in the past two years passed, according to the Center for Transportation Excellence. But the need to improve our mass transit system is too urgent, and the benefits too important, not to begin tackling this issue. Failing to upgrade the system risks constrained growth, increased congestion, limited mobility and decreased quality of life in the region. Let’s start now to figure out the best system for moving people around the region, before it’s too late. ■